Why
by sunshard
Summary: Pirika wonders why people always close their eyes when they kiss. Ren just could help with the answer…RenPiri, updated with the alternate ending and HoroTamao finale!
1. Why

Spur of moment thing. Don't ask. I was reading more Dragonlance--wait, all I read IS Dragonlance. Forget me. Just read the story. Beware of drabble and multiple kisses. o.O SOMEDAY I SHALL BE KNOWN AS THE FREAKIN' ULTIMATE PURVEYOR OF RENXPIRIKA. FEAR ME, MORTAL. This could count as a spin-off of "This Love"...as if "Haircut" never happened, or something. Right! If you like RenxPirika, and you like my fic, go and read my other RenPiri story, "Haircut". AND REVIEW.

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**Disclaimer**: Did you know I own Shaman King? Did you know Hao is really, really ugly? Did you know the way Mari speaks is annoying? Did you know a lot of people like RenxAnna (BLEH!)? Did you know that the only reason I write disclaimers is because it adds more letters to my fic? -bright, fake smile- NOT. Hao is hot. Mari's way of speaking is cute and Rin-ish. Barely any people like RenxAnna (thank Paladine!!). And I don't own Shaman King. Darn.

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_Why_

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Pirika let the warming, cleansing water course down her body, inevitably wetting down her hair to her body. She sighed. _That just washes out all the mousse I put in my hair,_ she thought. _Not that anyone would care how I look. _Yoh, of course, was with Anna, Horo Horo was courting Tamao, Hao was 1) evil, 2) interested with Jeanne, and 3) missing, Tao Ren was un_touchable_, and Lyserg was too busy being dramatic to be of any notice. (No offense to Lyserg fans. ) 

Turning the faucet knob until the water eventually fell to a small drizzle, then stopped, Pirika stepped out of the shower and grabbed a fluffy white towel from a rack on the wall. Drying herself off, she took another, longer towel, wrapped it around herself, and opened the door to the bedroom outside. Wondering why in the first place she had come to Jun's house with a schizophrenic maniac (also know as Tao Ren, the shaman who had first injured Yoh, then joined his little posse), the Ainu walked out of the marble bathroom and into Tao Ren's chest, who had obliviously been going to take a shower, unknowing that Pirika was in the shower. Two things happened: 

"HENTAI!" 

And, of course, the fatal slap. 

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Ren rubbed his red cheek angrily, his hand automatically straying to his spear every now and then. Ho glared murderously at the happily-humming Ainu sitting in front of him. Apparently she had forgotten the incident very, _very_ quickly. 

"I've seen Anna-san and Yoh-kun do this all the time...but...why do people close their eyes when they're about to kiss each other?" asked Pirika suddenly, staring up at the magically enchanted ceiling that was spelled to mimic the weather outside and swinging her legs back and forth.

Ren stared at her, running his finger up and down the handle of his spear impatiently. "Why do you want to know?" he retorted arrogantly. 

Pirika looked down from the ceiling to him for a moment, smiling. Ren shuddered at her naïveté. "So when someone falls in love with me someday I'll know!" 

Ren slapped his forehead. "Women are so strange..." he mumbled. To Pirika, he suggested dryly, "It's probably because their lover's face is so ugly they don't want to see it when they close in?" 

"BAKA REN!" 

A second slap, on the other cheek this time. 

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_Someday, people will not just remember me for becoming Shaman King _(yeah right!), _they will also remember me for having survived so many of that onna's slaps, _Ren thought glumly, now rubbing the other side of his cheek. Women were so sensitive. 

Pirika was seated in front of him again, having forgotten the slap scene--again. "Why do people close their eyes when they kiss...?" 

_Take two,_ Ren thought, his hair twitching. _Is someone out there spiting me?_ (HAHA, _YES_, THE AUTHOR IS TORTURING YOU! Don't worry, no more slaps though. Just...a lot of kissing. ;;; But that's what you've been waiting for, hasn't it?!!) 

"Do you want to experiment?" Ren inquired sarcastically, polishing down his spear this time. 

"Okay!" the Ainu agreed cheerfully, causing Ren to fall back. Quickly sitting up again, he looked at her incredulously. 

"Your brother will kill me." 

"I'll just make him run 10 more kilometers of training." 

"What do I get out of this?" 

"You'll get to kiss me?" 

"Someone as ugly as _you_?" 

"Hurry up and kiss me already! Unless you want to get slapped again..." 

Ren hurriedly grabbed her and kissed her roughly, then pulled back. 

"So?" the Tao breathed slightly hard, trying to ignore that fact he just _might_ have enjoyed the kiss. 

Pirika looked at him dazedly. "...That was too fast, can we try that again?" she managed to murmur. 

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If it was possible to get drunk on kissing, that was what was happening to Ren. He was starting to see Pirika in a new light. He was starting to see the WORLD in a new light. 

It was kind of scaring him.

It was also, dear reader, scaring the author. 

Settling back on the floor next to Pirika, he stared up at the dark, star-embroidered ceiling, his finger tracing the constellations thoughtfully. "So, did you figure out the answer yet?" Ren whispered to her. 

Pirika smiled at him innocently. "I'll figure it out on the way." 

"What way?" he teased her. 

She countered with hitting his shoulder. "Be serious or I'll send my brother on you!" 

They stayed in silence a few minutes more after, until Ren finally spoke up. 

"Wo ai ni." 

Pirika gazed at him pensively. "I like the sound of that. _Wo ai ni. _It's Chinese, right? What does it mean?" 

"I love you," Ren answered simply. 

Another silence. Then, 

"I think I just might love you too." 

"...Think?" 

The two engaged in a massive tickling fight, not noticing a giggling sound behind the doorway. 

From their station near the door, Jun looked at Pailong, who flipped the lens closed of that small video camera he was holding, finishing the recording. "It's about time they got together, isn't it?" she asked, smiling angelically. Pailong smiled back, and placed the tape with all of Ren and Pirika's little tryst on the floor next to him, leaning towards her inescapably. 

With the two couples wrapped up in each other, no one saw Hao slip in, grin maniacally, grab the tape, and run off to mail it off to Horo Horo. 

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**_Owari_**

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-smiles evilly- I _love_ making Hao do all my pranks. XD Review, please, or I'll discontinue Haircut...yes, I'm serious, I will, please review. PLEASE. AHHHHH. Might have made Ren off character. Darn. Ja ne 'till the next RenPiri fic I write............


	2. Finale

The random sequel to "Why" because reviewers said it was possible. Reviewers, by the way! Thank you cherri-chan, DarkWarrior188, deathraveness, Animaniac-chan, DayDrEaMiNg-child, Magome-Asakura, Kya Myoshi (I'm on your favorites! I'm so touched! But how could you want to kill Hao?!!! He's too pretty to kill!!!!), shaman7, Anime-Mastah, bOw-DoWn-To-KeIkO, DeFunès, and Indhira Morillo. You guys are great! This'll be the last chapter...I'll make it good. Hopefully. But, sadly, short. There'll be some HoroTamao...gomen to people who -cough- think they own Horo Horo...

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**Disclaimer**: -too busy staring at Hao dreamily to mention she doesn't own Shaman King- ¬¬ hem.

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_Why_

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Chapter Two: Part One: WHAT?! (the more non-sensical, Plot? What Plot? part of this chapter. OOC-ness abounds.)

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_around a week after "Why"_

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Horo Horo was busy scarfing down the usual amount of food that Tamao had made for him, when a certain evil (BUT bishounen) villain happened to walk into Yoh's kitchen where Horo Horo sat.

"HAO!" yelled Horo Horo alarmingly, whipping his snowboard out of nowhere.

But the reincarnated akuma just smirked. "I have a...present for you," he grinned, taking the tape of d00m out of his mantle's pocket and placing it on the table. "You might want to be sitting down when you watch this."

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Horo Horo pushed the tape into a VCR (Manta had gotten for Yoh and Anna on one of their anniversaries) and the screen flicked on. Hao sipped a cup of tea in the background, grinning maniacally.

Horo Horo watched for a while, his eyes narrowing every now and then. But then came the part where Ren kissed her.

"WHAT?!!!!!!!!"

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Ren was busy snogging Pirika to death (I told you there would be OOC in this part) when his hair twitched. He pulled away from Pirika.

"Why do I feel like we're in immense danger all of a sudden?"

Then Horo Horo burst in.

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**Owari**

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I told you this part wouldn't make sense. Here's the other ending, HoroTamao part of it.

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Chapter Two: Part Two: A Sure Way To Hook A Guy (just pretend that last chapter was Pirika telling the story to Tamao. Don't ask how she knew Ren's thoughts. I don't own the love letter beginning from Final Fantasy IX.)

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_around a month after "Why"_

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"...So that's how I got together with Ren," Pirika concluded, then grinned cheerfully. "That's a sure way to hook a guy!"

"Really?" Tamao said shyly.

Pirika smiled. "Definitely! Why don't you try it on my brother, or something? I'll help you!"

Tamao's face lit up. "A-all right," she whispered, smiling back.

"So let's get to work. Any questions?" the female Ainu inquired.

"........Just one. How did you avoid Horo Horo for so long?"

".............You know what, I have no idea."

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_a day later, on Saturday_

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Horo Horo walked out of his room to the kitchen, stretching and yawning loudly. Ryu was cooking breakfast at the stove. Mumbling a greeting to Yoh and Anna, who sat at dining table, he took a seat and for the first time in about a month noticed Ren and Pirika were missing.

"......Where are Ren and Pirika?"

Yoh shrugged, sleep still fuzzing his eyes. He had forgotten his headphones at the nightstand and looked, freakily, like Hao with short hair. "Dunno. There's something in the mail for you, by the way. No addressee, though." Yawning hugely, the shaman shoved a plain, white envelope announcing "Usui Horo Horo, c/o Asakura Yoh and Anna, Funbari Onsens" in typed, bold letters. Taking a kitchen knife, the Ainu curiously slit the back open.

Another plain piece of typed paper greeted him. 'Meet me at the docks at midnight, when the moon hangs in the sky like a pendant.

What: a tryst.

When: midnight today.

Where: the docks.

Who: just you and me.

Why: a question needs to be answered...'

Horo Horo stared at the cryptic message, then folded it up and shoved it into his pocket. He'd go, sure, but he was taking his furyoku'd snowboard with him.

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_midnight, the docks_

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Horo Horo arrived at the docks, a minute short of 12 sharp. Sitting down at a random pier, letting his legs dangle above the black water, his furyoku'd weapon glowed an unearthly color in the moonlight.

After waiting a moment, the clock tower struck twelve and Horo Horo saw a dark figure behind him, reflected in the water. Standing up quickly, he turned and brandished his weapon at it. "Who are you?" he demanded.

Unexpectedly, the figure reared back with a shriek and called, sounding frightened, "Conchi! Ponchi! Overso...Horo Horo?"

Horo Horo lowered his weapon. "Tamao?"

The girl shaman stepped into the moonlight, the silver rays gleaming on her pink hair. "...Ohayou," she said shyly.

Horo Horo laughed.

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---- (by the way, Ohayou means good morning. And it's midnight. So, err...would that count as a joke? -sweatdrop-)

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The unlikely (-sad sniff- and un-canon) duo sat next to each other on the edge of the pier, staring into the dark water. "Why'd you go through to all that trouble to bring me here, Tamao-chan?" the Ainu asked. "You could have just told me."

Tamao twirled a lock of magenta hair. "I wanted this to be special."

Horo Horo suddenly remembered a word on the invitation: _tryst_.

A meeting of lovers.

"What did you want to ask me?" he said abruptly, dropping a pebble into the still water and causing ripples to spread hypnotically on the surface.

Tamao drew a deep breath. "Um......why do people always close their eyes when they kiss?"

Horo Horo frowned. "Hmm, I don't know. Want to try?"

Tamao's face brightened and she leaned forward...

And the rest, dear reader, of course, is history.

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**Owari**

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I liked this one a lot more than the other one. The first one was way too sloppy. -sigh- Pity Horo Horo/Tamao isn't canon...then again, nearly no pairings are canon except for Yoh/Anna...-whistles- well, that was long. (On my standards.)

Review, much appreciated. Yes, this is the end, I hoped you enjoyed it. -wink- Hope you enjoyed!


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